West Decatur, in Boggs Township, was for decades a brickyard town. Part of local community was known as Blue Ball.
The large General Refractories plant turned out bricks by using a steam-powered press. It was a major employer until its closing in 1970.
Many locals traveled a short distance, on Route 322, to Philipsburg or Clearfield for shopping, business, banking, etc. That is true today.
A few small businesses, such as the Clover Farm Store, shown in the photo lasted until the 1990’s. However different the present times may be, newer generations still live and raise their families in and around West Decatur.
The apparently early 60’s photo shows the store, a long-gone Pero Ice Cream ad sign and some now vintage model cars. Up front, it looks to be a ’60 or ’61 Studebaker Lark.
It was a smaller model car for its day, but it seated six and the top powered model came with a 259 cubic inch V8 engine! The Lark is followed up by what looks to be a similar model year Dodge and then a late 50’s model Ford.
The buildings have old-fashioned TV antennas that picked up CBS and NBC programming from Altoona and Johnstown.
Two hundred-channel satellite dishes, cable or Internet would have seemed like science fiction then.
Take away the cars, the antennas and a few changes to the photo’s buildings and the scene looks nearly the same over a half-century later.
